Any discussion of documents, devices, acts or knowledge in this specification is included to explain the context of the invention. It should not be taken as an admission that any of the material forms a part of the prior art base or the common general knowledge in the relevant art in Australia or elsewhere on or before the priority date of the disclosure and broad consistory statements herein.
Consistent prolonged sitting at a work desk is associated with serious health conditions, including disk related low back pain, heart disease, diabetes, cancer and reduced life span. Given this, it may be advantageous to provide an apparatus, such as that of the present invention, which enables a user to alternate between sitting and standing at their work desk, thereby enabling the user to reduce the length of each sitting period, as well as overall sitting time.
One solution to this problem has been to make the work desk itself height adjustable. However, such solutions are typically more complex, expensive and prone to breakage, and more difficult to store and transport, than fixed height desks. Therefore, height adjustable work desks have not been taken up as a suitable solution for the most part, particularly not as a means of prophylaxis.
U.S. Patent Publication no. 2015/0250303 A1 describes an alternative solution in which a height adjustable platform is sat upon a fixed height desk. Specifically, the adjustable desk platform described includes: a monitor platform defining a substantially planar work surface; a base located beneath the monitor platform, the base defining a bottom surface without legs that is adapted to sit on an existing desk; first and second sets of arms coupling the monitor platform to the base, wherein the first and second sets of arms are adapted for movement of the monitor platform substantially in parallel with the base between a fully raised position and a fully lowered position; and a user-operable locking mechanism associated with the upper platform, the locking mechanism adapted to releasably lock the upper platform in the fully raised position, and in at least one intermediate position between the fully raised position and the fully lowered position. A computer monitor is to be mounted on the monitor platform, and the apparatus further includes a keyboard tray for mounting of a keyboard thereon.
Unfortunately, the solution described in U.S. Patent Publication no. 2015/0250303 A1 suffers from various drawbacks. For instance, in order to raise the monitor platform, the sets of arms pivot at their lower ends without any simultaneous horizontal movement of the their upper ends with respect to the monitor platform, thereby resulting in forward movement of the monitor platform into the limited work space of a user as the platform is raised. Further, such an off balanced arrangement requires the use of a counterweight, adding unnecessary weight to the device. Moreover, the height of the monitor platform is not continuously lockable in the sense that an anchor must be selectively engaged in one of a number of perforations to lock the platform at a predetermined height. Of course, the ergonomic height of the platform for a user may not always correspond with the predetermined heights available. Additionally, to raise or lower the monitor platform, the user must use a handle to release an anchor and then manually lift or lower the upper platform. This places undue stress on the user's body given the substantial weight of various components such as the platform and monitor resting thereupon. Although a booster spring is used to assist upward movement, the assistance it provides is limited and it is only effective in providing assistance in or near the fully lowered position. Further still, whilst mentioning in passing that the keyboard tray can be located at an adjustable distance from the base platform, the trays in the embodiments shown and described are not height adjustable. Thus, the absence of embodiments with an enabling disclosure of a keyboard tray which is height adjustable independently of the monitor platform presents difficulties for ergonomically setting up various users with differing vertical distances between the eye line and the elbow line.
Thus, it may be advantageous to provide a new height adjustable workstation which is mountable on a fixed height desk, and which reduces, limits, overcomes, or ameliorates some of the problems, drawbacks, or disadvantages associated with prior art devices, or provides an effective or improved alternative to such devices.